Noticeably Absent
by Gater101
Summary: OneShot. It wasn’t that he had been spying on his best friend, per se, but House had been noticeably absent from his usual haunts and Wilson’s concern was growing.


Title: Noticeably Absent  
Summary: It wasn't that he had been spying on his best friend, per se, but House had been noticeably absent from his usual haunts and Wilson's concern was growing.  
Characters: Wilson, House, Cuddy [&Stacey]  
Pairing: House/Cuddy, House-Wilson friendship  
Rating: PG

House, Wilson noted, hadn't been himself lately. It wasn't that he had been spying on his best friend, per se, but ever since Stacey had cut her visit short and left town without telling anyone, Wilson had tried to keep closer tabs on House than usual. Or he'd tried to, at least. Because his friend had been noticeably absent from his usual haunts and Wilson's concern was growing.

He shuffled into his coat – the irreverent winter chill had finally descended on Princeton and while the departure from the smothering heat was welcome, Wilson's aging joints protested mildly against the cold – and switched the light on his desk off as he prepared to leave for the day. It had long since passed six pm and he'd had his last appointment three hours before. He had intended to leave early (any time before five) in the vein hope of catching House on the way out but he'd gotten distracted by some articles in the latest medical journal to be posted through his door.

And he'd missed his chance.

As he made his way through the hospital, he greeted a few colleagues and dodged a few patients as he tried to make his way past admittance. As he paused at the admittance desk, returning the few files he'd gathered at his desk, he glanced towards Cuddy's office in the clinic and noted the faint glow of lamp light indicating that she was still hard at work.

Wilson didn't begrudge her the workload; he was glad all he had to do was attend a few board meetings every month and whenever House decided his patient needed a transplant before everyone else's. He considered dropping by, just to say good night but he knew it was best not to interrupt her. Cuddy had been less than thrilled at Stacey's sudden disappearance and had responded by throwing herself into her work and being particularly hard on House.

Yes, he'd noticed that, too.

The chill air whipped around his exposed ears and he pulled the collar of his thick coat up, cocooning himself in its little warmth. The wind bit his fingers as he gripped onto his briefcase and he shivered automatically at the chill; the frost hadn't landed yet but Wilson knew it wouldn't be long before it did. He sighed, his breath appearing in a diaphanous haze before him and he smiled slightly at the sight.

He had kind of missed winter this year.

He looked to the sky, to the thin wisps of cloud that grazed across the obsidian blackness and watched as the milky sliver of moon retreated behind one silvery strand only to appear seconds later. The winter halo around the moon eased his worries even as it reminded him to wear a scarf the next day.

Looking to his car, he sighed. He wasn't ready to go home yet; to his cold apartment (he had remembered around noon that he hadn't set his heating to winter mode) to eat his dinner alone.

Sighing, he rolled his shoulders as he set off, heading for House's apartment.

--

The next day at lunch, Wilson went to House's office and found it conspicuously empty and he sighed. House didn't have a patient (rarely did he ever) and he'd finally managed to dwindle his team down to five possibilities (four, if he discounted the one who didn't actually have a medical degree). He sighed again, exasperated as he headed to the cafeteria by himself.

Where he found House leaning casually against the door frame smirking as Wilson rounded the corner.

"House," Wilson greeted, surprised and House half smirked before falling into step beside him.

"I was beginning to think you'd stopped eating."

Wilson huffed out a laugh and shook his head.

"I was wondering the same about you," he said with a quirk of his eyebrow, turning away from House as he picked up a tray.

"What would I have done if you hadn't shown up?" House continued as he piled food onto Wilson's plate as though Wilson hadn't even spoken.

"Oh," Wilson said as he watched in disdain as House added a little bit of everything to his plate, "maybe buy your own lunch?"

House scoffed at that and rolled his eyes, walking out of the queue to a table three people before the till. Wilson closed his eyes and shook his head amused. He'd missed House these last few weeks.

At the table, Wilson clattered his tray down and pretended to be mad at House for taking advantage of him, which lasted all of thirty seconds before House rolled his eyes and sneered.

"Don't keep your face like that, Jimmy, it'll stay that way."

Wilson rolled his eyes again and hid his smile behind his cup of juice.

"I came by your house last night." It took a few seconds for House to look at him, his sudden silence piquing Wilson's interest. "You weren't there."

"I wasn't?" He tried for innocent, came across anything but. Wilson rolled his eyes. "Maybe I just didn't answer the door," he said with wide eyes and Wilson pursed his lips slightly.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But I used my key to let myself in and unless you were hiding in your piano, you definitely weren't there."

"Maybe I was here." Wilson laughed aloud at that. "With a patient."

"You haven't had a patient for almost a week, House." House narrowed his eyes but continued eating. Wilson sighed again. "You don't have to tell me what's going on-"

"I wasn't going to."

"But just know that I know that something is."

House smirked again, catching Wilson's eyes and nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Wilson didn't doubt it.

--

"Oh, shut _up."_

Wilson watched the exchange from the doorway of exam room one with keen interest. The sight of House towering over Cuddy's diminutive frame was not an unusual sight in the clinic – neither, really, was Cuddy's hands-on-hips pose – but it was the angle at which House's body leant into Cuddy's, the way that Cuddy's lips trembled with the hint of a smile that had Wilson riveted to the spot.

"No, I won't and you can't-"

"Can't I?"

"No!"

Cuddy pivoted on her heel and stomped away and Wilson watched House giving her ass the cursory thirty second viewing before Cuddy disappeared into her office, leaving a trail of tiny indents on the tiled floor as she went.

As House turned back to Wilson with the faintest hint of a smile still lingering on his lips, Wilson couldn't help but gape like a goldfish.

Oh, this was _interesting._

_--_

Later that night, Wilson stopped by Cuddy's house – just to say hello.

He wasn't surprised when she didn't let him past the threshold, instead, leaning against the doorframe as she conducted a terse conversation with him in the late evening chill. He could see the goose bumps on her skin, the way her hands shivered slightly as she drew them through her hair but he wasn't sure if it was from cold or nervousness.

"Do you have company?" He asked eventually, after five minutes of fidgeting on her doorstep.

"What?" She asked surprised, quickly shaking her head even as she turned her eyes back into her home. "No."

"So why am I not being invited in?"

She chuckled slightly, nervously and made to move the door wider open, the apology on her tongue when another hand appeared above hers, pulling the door open further.

Wilson grinned, but quickly smothered it at the glare rumpled House sent his way.

"We were about to have sex."

"House!" Cuddy admonished as she swatted him in the chest, but Wilson could see there was no force behind it. "We weren't. He's-"

"Oh give it up!" House said as he limped back into the warmth, lifting his cane from its resting place over a side cabinet and Wilson stepped in behind him. "He's probably figured it out by now – that's why he's here." He turned back to Wilson who had the decency to look sheepish. House turned to Cuddy even as he indicated Wilson. "See?"

He could hear Cuddy sigh and he almost felt bad for interrupting their evening. Almost.

As Cuddy left to make coffee – or grease House's cane, Wilson couldn't be sure – Wilson tried to keep from gleefully bouncing on the spot. He looked around the room, to House sprawled across Cuddy's sofa and he couldn't help the small smile that escaped at how comfortable – how at ease – he looked there.

It was... nice.

"Oh, give it a break."

Wilson snapped out of his daze and looked back to House who hadn't even turned towards him.

"What?" House turned to him long enough to glare at him before turning back to the screen. Wilson sat across from him on the armrest as he listened to Cuddy pottering about in the kitchen. He watched House watch him out of the corner of his eye and he couldn't help the gleeful, admonishing; "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

And as House grinned out of the corner of his mouth, Wilson realised that he hadn't needed to worry after all.


End file.
